


What Keeps Alec Up At Night

by MadamoiselleRomanova



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, University AU, You're Welcome, the first chapter is based off a fucking tumblr post
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-12 03:20:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11728410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadamoiselleRomanova/pseuds/MadamoiselleRomanova
Summary: After a couple swirls, he grimaced, whispered to himself,"I'm going to die."And then Alec knocked back the entire cup like a shot.He held his breath to not gag and heard a horrified"Holy shit"





	1. Expectations and caffeine

Alec was about three minutes away from ditching this class and throwing himself into the New York traffic. Maryse had been on his ass, about his grades, about his job, about his siblings, and again, about his grades. Two minutes until class starts, and he's sliding into a seat in the lecture hall, heading further back than usual so the prof wouldn't witness the travesty about to occur.   
Alec had one group project, one presentation, two papers, and two tests in the next two days. And a shift at the gym after this class. If he was going to get through this week with his GPA relatively unscathed, drastic action would have to be taken.  
He collapsed into his seat, trying to control his breathing, and pulled his bag onto his lap, Reaching in and pulling out his secret weapon.  
A 5-hour energy.  
He popped the lid on his coffee off, emptied the energy drink in, and then replaced the lid. After a couple swirls, he grimaced, whispered to himself,  
"I'm going to die"  
And then Alec knocked back the entire cup like a shot.  
He held his breath to not gag and heard a horrified   
"Holy shit"  
Stage whispered to his left.

He turned his head to take stock of who had witnessed his desperate plea to the universe for more time in a day and came face to face with the most handsome man he had ever laid eyes on.  
His face stayed in its usual stoic expression although he could feel heat crawl up his neck.  
The man had glittery makeup on his eyelids, and hair styled up and put off his face. How he had managed to look like that at 7 am, Alec had no clue. Alec was wearing one of his many holey sweaters and his hair was a little more chaotic than his usual natural tousled look.  
"Darling, if you need something to keep you up all night don't go for your frankly terrifying concoction, I'll do you pro-Bono"  
It was said with a flirtatious glance at Alec and a wink.  
Alex's eyes widened and he cast a furtive look around.  
"Oh. Oh no I- I have work is all and- and papers I have a lot of papers-"  
The man let out a laugh at Alec's flustered embarrassment.  
"God, you're adorable. Alexander is it?"  
"Oh uhm Alec. Everyone calls me Alec. Wait how do you kno-"  
"It's written on your coffee cup darling, and I rather enjoy the name Alexander. Do you mind?"  
" Oh! Oh no that's- that's fine uh... Sorry, what's your name?"  
The man seemed increasingly amused as Alec's blush crept up on him, and his words tripped over his tongue.  
"Magnus Bane, but you can call me anything you like. Or anytime you like."  
"I'm- I'm not- I mean, I'm not like-"  
"Gay? Or out of the closet because you're looking a little flushed darling"  
Alec panicked.  
"Yes."  
A beat of silence and then more soft laughter from Magnus.  
"Well alright then, " he said with eyes crinkled in amusement.   
"I think, Alexander, that I can help you with that."  
"...yes?"  
Already there seemed to be a strange fondness in Magnus' eyes, and Alec found it difficult to look away. Or answer coherently, apparently. Oh the fun Izzy would have had at his expense if she could witness this train wreck. Not to mention Jace, Jesus.   
"How about I take you for some food to go with all of that caffeine once this is over? Do you have another class?"  
"Oh uh no I don't have a class but I have a shift so..."  
"Alright then darling, I suppose duty calls," Magnus responded with what seemed to be his usual flair, a dramatic sigh following the statement.  
As the lecture continued Alec didn't hear a word. Each time he tried to concentrate he felt golden eyes on the side of his face, his neck, his lips. It was... strangely flattering. An impossibility for him, but that's life, no matter how shitty or how beautiful Magnus was.  
As the lecture drew to a close he started packing up only to realise his phone wasn't in his pocket, he bent down to check under the seat and heard from behind him,  
" as lovely as the view is it's unnecessary dear Alexander, I was merely adding myself as a contact to your phone. Just in case you need some help with any more all night endeavors"  
And with that parting statement, Alec felt his phone slide into his back pocket and stood to watch PART1/2

Magnus saunter out of the room, swallowed by a large group of friends.

Alec opened his phone to see a message sent to "The Glorious Magnus Bane". It was quickly responded to by Magnus, who simply sent a selfie of himself blowing Alec a kiss.

This- this did not bode well for the future Alec had planned of quiet deprivation and hiding for his parent's sake. It did not bode well at all.


	2. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec had done it. He was sleep deprived, high on caffeine pills, and contemplating suicide, but he’d done it.

Alec had done it. He was sleep deprived, high on caffeine pills, and contemplating suicide, but he’d done it.  
And now he finally got to re-  
“ALEC! Alec! I need your help, ASAP. It’s math, you know how much I hate math-“  
“Aren’t you in BioChem? How much math do you need for science?”  
“More than I expected, Obviously! Come on Alec, I have a test tomorrow and I don’t get this at all.”  
“Okay, okay. Just… calm down, kay? Come sit on the edge of the bed and show me what you don’t get.”  
Alec looked over Izzy’s notes and assignments, trying to think back to his own time in that class through the fog of exhaustion. He sighed and pulled a red bull from his bag and drank it as he read.  
“Okay, so what you need to do here is-“  
And it continued on in that vein for about an hour before Alec’s phone buzzed. Alec, intent on finishing this impromptu tutoring session in time to sleep before work ignored it, but Izzy peeked at the name on the screen as it lit up.  
“Who is Magnus?” She asked mischievously as she swiped the phone from where it was charging next to Alec.  
“And why is he sending you flirty texts?”

“What? Give me that!”  
Alec wrestled it from her hands and retreated to the corner of the bed to read the texts away from his sisters prying eyes, pointing at her notes and saying “Study. Now.”  
He ignored her huffing and read what Magnus had sent him.

“Hello Alexander, are you still awake? I’m sure I could help… tire you out, if you needed ;)”

Alec blushed crimson and replied,  
“Hey Magnus, I’m heading to bed as soon as I finish helping my sister study.”

“Aren’t you the sweetest <3”  
“In that case, I suppose I’ll settle for waiting to see you until tomorrow. Sit with me again in class?”

Alec bit his lip. He really shouldn’t. He should be concentrating in class, not…. whatever this is. But- it’s not like Lydia would mind. She was seeing Maia, and they were really only dating to please their parents. As a history buff, Alec knew that these lavender marriages had been fairly common for homosexuals at one point.  
Maybe- maybe he could see where this thing with Magnus went? He was… Beautiful. 

And then Alec realized he had left Magnus hanging for going on 10 minutes and Izzy was watching him chew the skin off his bottom lip.

“Yeah, that would be great. See you tomorrow”

Send. Done. Okay.

“Wow bro, enthusiastic much?”  
“Oh. Oh no, is it too much?”  
“What? No, Hermano I was making fun of how unexcited it seemed. You could show a little interest, damn.”  
Alec blushed.  
“It’s not- I’m not-“  
“Bro. It’s fine. But you probably shouldn’t be dating Lydia if you’re, you know, gay.”  
“I’m not. Gay, that is. I mean-“  
“Alright! Whatever you say Hermano, it makes no difference to me, okay? I love you either way.”  
Alec paused and worried at his lip some more. And then he replied, quietly;  
“…Okay. I love you too.”.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Alec slept but woke frequently, unsettling dreams plaguing him all night. Dreams of his childhood pastor, of his mother’s anger should she find out his sexuality, of his father’s disappointment when Alec told him he didn’t wish to join the clergy, of huge empty churches filled with whispers, of dark rooms with no air, of conversion camps and tear stained hymn books and of Lydia in a white dress, not facing Maia but facing him, Maia stood behind her in a golden dress.

He woke up with the air stolen from his lungs and his hands over his chest and throat.  
Alec sat up in bed, blankets pooling around his legs and his head cradled in his hands.  
He could do this. He was fine. Lydia was fine. His parents knew nothing.   
Everything was… fine.

And so Alec got up, washed away his nightmares, and dressed for class. He packed a gym bag for work, grabbed his book bag and ran out the door to get a coffee (or three) before class.

Everything was going to be fine.

 

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Alec forgot about meeting Magnus in class until he made it to class and saw the man smiling at him cheerfully. His mind flashed to Lydia’s hymnbook he had dreamt of last night, but he shook it from his mind and took the seat next to Magnus.

“And how was your sleep darling?”  
Alec felt a blush creep up his neck at the endearment.  
“Not too bad,” he replied, ducking his head down. “And yourself?”  
“Absolutely marvellous dear, once I knew I would be seeing you today”   
Here Magnus placed two fingers gracefully under Alec’s chin, lifting his face up gently.  
“And what a sight you are Alexander, especially without the manic gleam in your pretty blue eyes.”

Alec’s blush rose to his cheeks as he went to respond, but the professor called the class to attention and began his lecture so the two ceased speaking to copy down notes.

About halfway through the lecture Magnus tapped at Alec’s foot with his own. At Alec’s questioning look, he gave a mischievous smile and a wink, before attempting engage Alec in a game of footsie under the table for the rest of the class.  
This was to little avail, aside from getting scolding looks from Alec at not listening to the prof.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

This became a daily occurrence.  
Each day Alec blushed less, but also looked less grumpy. So Magnus considered it a win.  
One week in, Alec smiled. Two days later he let Magnus whisper commentary to him, shivering at the hot breath in his ear. The day after that he burst out laughing in class and then nearly sank into his chair in his embarrassment.   
Progress is progress though, and Magnus was certain his was progressing quite nicely.

Alec could never hang out after class as he had to go to work at the gym, but Magnus would walk him down the street and give him a kiss in the alley before he went in.  
And yeah, the closeted aspect was annoying, but Alec was the sweetest boy Magnus had ever met. 

After his disastrous high school sweetheart Camille, Magnus had felt no desire to pursue anyone in a romantic way. Having someone lead you on for years would do that to a guy. The only girl he’d ever been with, 6 months out of high school he had asked her to marry him. He was sure she would say yes. Sure, they were young, but they had made it past high school, in different universities and were all the stronger for it, weren’t they? Except apparently they weren’t. Apparently she had only dated him to be the school’s power couple. Apparently she was seeing other people in college, taking advantage of the private apartment her parents got her, instead of the dorm like everyone else (And Magnus) had to live with.   
Magnus had spent a couple of years messing around with different people, mostly strangers, and never more serious than friends with benefits. And he hadn’t wanted anything more. But Alec, Alec was someone he could wait for. Magnus would wait as long as Alec needed, because Alec was worth it.  
So Magnus continued to kiss Alec only in nooks and alleyways, and only went on dinner dates on the other side of town. They spent most of their time in the library or Magnus’ dorm, and Magnus was okay with it. For now, at least.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“My parents are out of town this week.”  
“Yeah? Gonna throw a crazy house party darling?”  
Alec gave Magnus an unimpressed look.  
“No. I was thinking… if you’re not busy, you could come stay for a few nights. Meet- uhm meet my siblings? If you wanted?”  
Magnus felt like the goddamned grinch with a sleigh full of presents, his heart felt so huge. He let out a deep breath, and answered as calmly as he could.  
“I would love to! Oh Alec I can’t wait! This is wonderful!”  
“Great! I mean, uhm, yeah. Sounds… sounds good. Meet me after work tomorrow and I’ll take you there?”  
Magnus smiled warmly at his flustered boyfriend. He couldn’t believe it was happening so fast! his sweet Alexander wanted to introduce him to his siblings!  
“That sounds absolutely wonderful my dear.”  
The boys stood smiling sweetly at each other for a moment, lost in each other until a sudden rush of movement around them indicated it was time to leave the classroom.  
They walked out towards Alec’s gym, shoulders brushing softly in the cool autumn air.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing and I no longer own my own time either due to getting a full time job while in full time school. Expect sporadic updates :/ I'm hoping I can get it fairly regular, like a chapter every week or so but we shall see

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing, I just like to play with other people's intellectual property. Enjoy my shitty Uni AU!


End file.
